Seven Reasons to Vote for Donald Trump. 7QT XXII Seriatim.

Last updated on: March 17, 2018 at 8:28 pm By Scott Eric Alt

NEVER before in American history, dear reader, has a presidential race been as important as this one that is now before us, in the Year of Our Lord two thousand and sixteen. If we are GONNA defeat Hillary Clinton in the general election, we must GIVE Donald Trump the opportunity to make a full case. As I see it, Mr. Trump has seven points in his favor. These points must be taken with all due seriousness. Only YOU can help defeat Hillary Clinton in November---by going to the polls with these seven reasons fixed in your mind. The future of this great country is all UP to you. Let's make America great again. Go to the polls, and vote Trump! [...] Read more

Does the Pope Really Think Jesus Sinned?

Last updated on: March 17, 2018 at 9:02 pm By Scott Eric Alt

Pope Francis has, once more, gotten himself in trouble with those bloggers he usually gets himself in trouble with. This time, it involves the following odd words, from his homily on December 27 for the Feast of the Holy Family: “A pilgrimage does not end when we arrive at our destination, but when we return home and resume our everyday lives. ... We know what Jesus did on that occasion. Instead of returning home with his family, he stayed in Jerusalem, in the Temple, causing great distress to Mary and Joseph who were unable to find him. For this little ‘escapade,’ Jesus probably had to beg forgiveness of his parents.” Naturally, the pope-bashing blogs are all over this. [...] Read more

Pope Speaks on Plane; Church Crashes Into Tiber. Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome Vol. XVII.

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 11:47 pm By Scott Eric Alt

The Catholic Church has crashed smack into the Tiber River, there are almost no survivors---only a remnant of 11---and we must sit and gaze on the ruins and wail. Or at least that is what one would think, to judge by the apocalyptic screams coming from the right-wing blogs over the last day or two. So what happened this time? I wll tell you, but you must brace yourself. The pope gave an interview. In this one, he had some hard words to say about the harm caused by religious fundamentalism; the immediate reaction to which was a grand eruption of Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome, starring Fr. Z, Carl Olson at Catholic World Report, and Dale Price at One Vader Five. It takes so little. [...] Read more

Calvinist Blogger Reads James; Discovers That We Must Do Good Works.

Last updated on: March 17, 2018 at 10:36 pm By Scott Eric Alt

So I was making my periodic round of the blogs in order to find out what the anti-Catholics were up to, when I stumbled across a curious post by the Amazing Mr. X. (He calls himself TurretinFan, for weird reasons of his own. I can't speak for the poor man's crotchets.) It seems, at first glance, to be a real snoozer of a post, even by Mr. X’s strict standard for somnolence: It is a very cursory summary of the content of James. That’s it. But in the middle of all this, Mr. X trips smack over the fact that James sure talks about works a lot. And still he thinks the true subject is faith alone. No, really. We shall have to read carefully to parse his confusion and help poor Mr. X out of his crotchet. [...] Read more

No, Virginia, Blogs are Not the Magisterium. 7QT XXI Seriatim.

Last updated on: March 17, 2018 at 10:46 pm By Scott Eric Alt

Blogs do oft proceed as though they are equal to the Magisterium, or judge the Magisterium, or interpret the Magisterium, or replace the Magisterium, or scorn the Magisterium, or wield the Magisterium like a thunderbolt to strike the bad ones down. Blogs do oft proceed as though they are giving their readers the truly true, insider, Gnostic truth; or the dangerous threat to the Church uncovered in an exclusive by brave anonymous sources; or the secret Marian revelation about the end of days; or the definitive list of heresies of those who must not ever by any means call themselves Catholic. But no. There is no “blogisterium.” Bloggers do not discern the spirits or the signs of the times. [...] Read more

Notes on a Dumb Show: Maureen Mullarkey’s Latest Rant. Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome Vol. XVI.

Last updated on: March 18, 2018 at 9:53 pm By Scott Eric Alt

Maureen Mullarkey has given vent to another in a long, splenetic string of anti-Francis bloggage. She has much breath for that kind of thing. In this one, she accuses the pope of colluding with Obama in order to destroy freedom across the globe. No joke, dear reader. The short of it is, it was posted at First Things, R.R. Reno took it down, wrote a post to the effect that Ms. Mullarkey will no longer write there; after which, the post appeared at the malodorous One Vader Five, courtesy of Mr. Steve Skojec; and Ben Domenech at The Federalist declared that, whatever Mr. Reno does, Ms. Mullarkey is welcome to publish her filth with him. [...] Read more

Disappointed Judge Napolitano Calls Pope Francis a “False Prophet.” Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome Vol. XV.

Last updated on: March 18, 2018 at 10:21 pm By Scott Eric Alt

So I go to Fox News and I find Judge Napolitano raving on about the pope again. He has raved before. He has been doing this at least since Rush Limbaugh first cried "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war. In his latest column, he tells us that the pope is a “false prophet” and has “disappointed many Roman Catholics.” So here we go again: It's Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome. It never ends. In this his latest outburst, Mr. Napolitano begins by noting his self-identity as a “traditionalist Roman Catholic.” Within the breast of such an one is “fear and trembling over what [the pope] might say.” For reasons of their own, traditionalists always quaver in a state of near-panic. [...] Read more

The American Right Erupts in Collective Nutty Over Papal Visit. Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome Vol. XIV.

Last updated on: March 24, 2018 at 10:25 pm By Scott Eric Alt

Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona is vexed that the pope might not mention subjects near and dear to the heart of Mr. Gosar, in front of the whole Congress, with Mr. Gosar in attendance to clap his hands and shout "Huzzah!" And so he vows to boycott. Brian Kilmeade of Fox News is vexed that the pope would think that there is anything the matter with capitalism, and says the pope is in the wrong country and what he has to say has no place. George Will is vexed at the pope's encyclical Laudato Si and takes out an entire syndicated column to opine that Catholics can not love the pope and America (by which he means fossil fuels) at the same time. [...] Read more

Rolling Stoned on Pope Francis: Part IV.

Last updated on: March 25, 2018 at 1:18 pm By Scott Eric Alt

Ahead of the papal visit later this month, Mark Binelli is back with another effusive column in Rolling Stoned. I have picked apart his errors thrice before, but the poor man keeps on rolling. Like a stone! Give him credit for it; this time, he has sought answers from the very renowned Michael Sean Winters and Austin Ruse and Rod Dreher! That’s effort. Still, Mr. Binelli will insist on his portrayal of Pope Francis as a “disruptor” of some sort. I don’t mind that; I even agree with it; but it is the kind of disruption that he sees lurking in the pope---an "unscripted" and "radical" one---that worries me: not about Mr. Binelli’s sanity, for that can’t be helped, but his perspicuity. [...] Read more

The Year of Mercy Confounds New York Times Columnist. Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome Vol. XIII.

Last updated on: March 25, 2018 at 1:50 pm By Scott Eric Alt

"You cannot conceive, nor can I,” Graham Greene writes in Brighton Rock, “of the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.” Now, if I can’t conceive it, and you can’t conceive it, and Graham Greene can’t conceive it, imagine how much trouble they must be having at the New York Times. And so they are. Jill Filipovic, the author of this latest excursion into Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome, goes as far as to call forgiveness “unforgiving.” It must have been pretzel day at Coney Island when she turned in that copy. We will have to stop her often, for her errors exceed a plenitude of pretzels, from the meaning of mercy to excommunication to shame and penitence. [...] Read more